Tuesday, October 16, 2012

My Dream Planner

The title is deceptive. I plan a lot of stuff, but I don't exactly plan my dreams. Though, if I could...

Seriously, though, it's time to order refills or a new planner for next year. I currently have a Size 4 Franklin Covey 1 1/2 inch binder filled with Daytimer Family Plus pages. For paper planner newbies, that means the filler pages are exactly the size of half a sheet of paper, which is really nice for making my own planner pages. But due to the quality of my homemade pages, I save those for things like grocery lists and packing lists, and buy monthly tabbed with embedded weekly page fillers each year.

Note the coffee cup and other crap all over my counter. How do I claim to be organized?

I am happy with the Family Plus layout, but the paper quality is so/so. Sometimes, a page pulls and tears out of the planner. I am also happy with the setup of the weekly pages. But my planner is so big. I'm wondering if I can get away with something smaller. So I thought I'd list the qualities I want in a planner and see if any of my readers can give me suggestions.

1) About a half sheet size, though that can vary a bit.2) Good quality paper.3) Can be bound or unbound, but must have a place for storing loose papers (which I have done in the past with a binder clip to the inside cover of the planner).4) Must have a place for a Master Task List.
5) Must have a place for a Daily and Weekly Checklist (see why mine is a binder instead of a bound planner?).
6) Must have monthly tabs dividing the weeks (not merely at the beginning of the planner).
7) Must have a page marker.
8) Weekly pages must have Monday through Friday (and possibly Sat and Sun, but at least Monday through Friday) on one side or across the top. Having Thursday and Friday squished in with the weekend will not work for me.9) Must be untimed (or times easily to ignore). 10) Each day must be somehow easily dividable into three parts: timed events/tasks, untimed tasks, and FYI.11) There must be a place for a weekly dinner menu and to jot grocery items (though it does not have to be already designated as such).12) There must be a place for overflow notes that do not fit in the daily slots.13) There must be room for 4 task lists: general, at computer, at home, and at errands.

Also, I would like (but maybe could use a tote bag with my old planner binder to accomodate):

14) I don't keep contacts in my planner (with the exception of a one page list of doctors, contractors, and other service companies), but I need to be able to put other lists in the address part.15) There needs to be a place for supplies.16) There needs to be blank notebook paper.

I'm not picky, right? I'll probably end up buying more Family Plus pages. :( But what I really want is a bound planner that has Family Plus pages but fits in my ring binder. Why don't they sell that???